January 30, 2006

Microsoft Office Update

Last
July, Guatemalan native Carlos Armando Amado nailed Microsoft $8.9 million for
infringing
5,537,590, inter-application linking technology which Microsoft had
incorporated into its ubiquitous Office suite. At the time of the ruling,
Microsoft crooned that "we do not believe today's verdict will have any impact
on our customers." Today, Microsoft is singing a different tune.

January 26, 2006

The Cure for Junk Patents: Old Hat

The
Wall Street Journal yesterday hit the nail on the head: "In Patent Disputes, A
Scramble to Prove Ideas Are Old Hat." Silliness aside, and there are a lot of
silly patents (see Patently Silly),
junk patents most commonly originate because adequate prior art search isn't
done during examination. To compound the problem, patent owners trot to court
without vetting their wares, potentially costing millions in attorneys fees that
can go up in smoke. For professional prior art searchers, finding old hats that
kill patents is where the action is.

January 25, 2006

Nellcor Bites The Bullet

Facing
a permanent injunction, and so biting the patent infringement bullet that
delusional RIM (v. NTP) still thinks it can miraculously dodge,
Nellcor, a division of Tyco Healthcare,
itself a subsidiary of industrial conglomerate Tyco International, has agreed to
fork over $330 million for infringing medical device patents owned by
privately-held mighty mouse Masimo.

January 24, 2006

Blunt Instrument

United
States Surgical appealed a lower court patent infringement decision in favor of
Applied Medical over
5,385,553, feeling a bit put out about the $64.5 million judgment for
enhanced willful infringement damages, the vig (known as "interest" to you non-mafioso), and attorneys fees.
Scalpel not in evidence, the CAFC (05-1149)
used a blunt instrument.

January 22, 2006

Bioprospecting Ire

Bioprospecting
is the technological art of refining biological entities, mostly plant-derived,
into patents, and spinning those into a fattened bank account. And it's pissing
off the natives, who for thousands of years knew of these plants, even
cultivated hybrids using classic techniques explained to Westerners by
Gregor
Mendel (the white geezer at right), but knew not how to score wads o' moola out
of them.

January 20, 2006

Judge Shopping

The
CAFC is letting Microsoft appeal its request for a new judge in the Eolas case,
where Microsoft still faces being dinged one-half billion dollars. Trial judge
James Zagel had refused Microsoft special treatment. How dare he.

January 19, 2006

Greedy Grad

Back in the late 1970s, Fredric Stern was a medical student at Columbia
University. He approached a long-time faculty member, Lazlo Bito, about doing a
single semester ophthalmology research elective in his laboratory. Bito agreed,
and directed Stern to begin his project by reviewing Bito’s numerous papers on
prostaglandins and glaucoma. Then Bito had Stern run some experiments.

Bumper Crop

Biotechnology
giants Dow Chemical and
Monsanto have inked a wide-ranging patent
cross-licensing agreement, and withdrawing from their meddling with each
other's patents. The corporate Hatfield-McCoy feud is finally settled;
thar's peace on the farm at last.

January 18, 2006

Genesis of a Hack Job

Received an email from Andrew Brandt,
writer for PC World.
"I'm working on a news story about how the flood of technology patents is
affecting computer users. We're looking to focus on examples of "bad" patents
that adversely affect innovation, raise costs for consumers, or make basic tasks
more difficult or complicated for the average computer user." Oh boy.

The Patent Office's Oops Program

The
USPTO is extending indefinitely its
pilot program of mini-appeals, which is estimated to save applicants wrongly
rejected at least $30 million annually. The program's success points out the
patent office's failure. As John Doll, commissioner for patent resources and
planning, confessed, "The success of this program shows the patent office was
making rejections that should not have been made."

January 17, 2006

Xerox's Strategy

Xerox,
a name once so powerful that the company had to fight losing their trademark
because it had become synonymous with the photocopies their machines produced,
became blindsided by market changes, its business crashed, but is now like a
phoenix rising, thanks to patents.

January 16, 2006

EU - Third Time's Charm?

In
a bid for rationality, the European Commission (EC) is trying again to
harmonize patents throughout Europe. Currently, according to a recent European
Union (EU) survey, under the current regime requiring separate registration in
each member state, to register a patent across the EU costs four to six
times what it costs in the U.S.

Top Prosecutors

Fifteen years running, Oblon Spivak has
topped the list of law firms in getting U.S. utility patents granted, and, based
on published application numbers, expects the streak to continue at least a few
years longer.

HP Comes Around on Patents

This
week,
the list of top US receivers of patents was released. The list contained the
usual suspects, including HP. It was not too long ago, HP made news saying that
it was hell bent on gaining the top spot on this list. As a result they went on
a patent writing bender. This was at the same time when they were streamlining
their R&D staff and asking them to focus on near term opportunities.

January 10, 2006

Process Component

The CAFC turned down a request for an en banc hearing in Union Carbide v. Shell
(CAFC 04-1475o) to
consider whether § 271(f) applies to method/process inventions, having
previously decided it does. The dissent made a lot of sense.

Top Drawer

Asian
companies continue to show patenting strength in the U.S., according to figures
just released by the USPTO. While IBM is still top dog, five of the top ten
patenting companies are Japanese, with a Korean sitting in the middle.

January 9, 2006

SeaChange Downstream

nCube
sued SeaChange for infringing
5,805,804. In a jury trial, SeaChange got nailed badly: SeaChange had to pay
double the damages for willful infringement, and two-thirds of nCube's attorneys
fees. So SeaChange asked for a new trial, was turned down, and so appealed (CAFC
03-1341); to no
avail.

Claim Scope Per Disclosure Redux

LizardTech got its wavelet compression
patent dubbed by the CAFC (05-1062
panel) for overreaching in its claim beyond its specification, when
only one embodiment had been disclosed. So, desperate, LizardTech appealed for
an en banc hearing (05-1062
en banc); request denied. But in its snub, the CAFC put on a little
fireworks show between the ruling majority and dissenters.

January 7, 2006

Patent Statistics Update

Granted
patents & lawsuits are down while application filings rise. Small business and
individual inventors, "the little guy", dominate high technology patenting, but
have a tough road to hoe in profiting from their inventions.

Backlash to USPTO Cracking the Whip

Patent prosecutors across the country are
echoing Patent Hawk in crying foul
at the patent office for unfairly shifting the burden of examination onto
prosecutors, limiting examinations, and hurting the prospects for deserved
patent protection.

January 5, 2006

InterVideo Persuades ITC

Following up on an
earlier story, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has agreed to
investigate InterVideo's patent infringement accusation against computer maker
Dell and three other companies. Intervideo seeks a permanent injunction.

January 3, 2006

Patent Suits Drop in 2005

2005 witnessed an 11% decline in new patent lawsuits from 2004, breaking a decade-long trend, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Eight out of the top ten IP case payouts were settled out of court, indicating that companies continue to use the courts to put the writing on the wall, but then settle when that writing becomes clear.

January 2, 2006

Rates Gone Ape

Immodest New-York based Rates Technology Inc. (RTI) is
suing Google for five billion dollars for
its VOIPGoogle Talk, as well as going after other companies,
for infringing telephone billing patents
5,425,085 &
5,519,769. RTI is going to give patent trolls a bad name.

Sponsored by

"A court must ask whether the improvement is more than the predictable use of prior art elements according to their established functions. The analysis need not seek out precise teachings directed to the specific subject matter of the challenged claim, for a court can take account of the inferences and creative steps that a person of ordinary skill in the art would employ." - SCOTUS in KSR, 2007 -

"Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assault of thought on the unthinking." - John Maynard Keynes -

USPTO Links

Disclaimer

Postings on this site are not legal advice. The views expressed are solely those of the individual author. All postings are copyrighted, and my not be reprinted for commercial purposes without the express written consent of the author.